Six Flags Magic Mountain Report

I visited Six Flags Magic Mountain last week. This is a report about it. The Coasters i wanted to rider were.1.x22.Viper3.collossus4.goliath5.tatsu6.scream7.full throttle8.revolution9ninja10.appocalypse12.Ridlers Revenge13.Batman14.superman15.lex luthor drop of doom16.green lantern The ones i was able to ride were Full ThrottleGoliathBatmanGold RusherLex LuthorRiddlers RevengeTatsu (I rode it twice instead of superman)I wasnt able to ride the others because the park closed that day at 6:30 for a private event or the lines were too long. The only one i couldnt ride anyway was X2 wich was the one i was looking forwards to the whole time. It was closed and will be closed for a while. I will now give a couple notes about the rides and park in general.

Full throttle is a very short ride and it takes them a while to load the trains and dispatch them. we waited an hour for this. If you want to ride this i would suggest sprinting there right as the gates open. We waited about 20 minutes and the line was HUGE.

Goliath is a fun ride if you are looking for big drops and g forces. We waited about 30 to 45 minutes for this ride. It was fun but it wasnt the best in my opinion.

Lex Luthor Drop of Doom was better than i expected. The line only took 10 to 15 minutes and the ride itself was quite fun. It was also very high but it didnt give me the stomach feeling i was hoping for.

Batman: The Ride This was a fun ride but it is your typical suspended looping coaster we waited about 30 minutes for it.

Gold Rusher Is a family ride the only reason we rode it was because there was no line and it was right after lunch. this coaster is very calm but quite jerky. it was one of the jerkier ones we went on.

Riddlers Revenge was a very fun ride but the line was horrible. it said 25 minutes but it took an hour. We didnt notice the single rider line or we wouldve used it. (this is one of the few rides with a single rider line i suggest using it)

Tatsu was one of my favorite rides. It is a whole different experience and feeling than ive ever felt before. This is a must if you go here. The Huge Pretzel loop felt awesome. This was one of my favorite rides.

Thats all for now i hope to go back next year so i can ride X2 and all the other rides i didnt get to ride.

Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

Green Lantern also has a single rider line FWIW, as does Viper if I remember correctly.

You report sounds pretty typical for an off-season experience, and the experience I've typically had at the park. In March, we actually decided to plan 2 days in the park to make sure we got onto everything we wanted.

I had an option to visit SFMM during my SoCal adventure over the last few weeks. But with X2 down, I stayed away. Added another day at Disney instead. Was actually the cheaper decision, and one that I am glad I made. You gotta question the foresight and planning of Six Flags' maint crew when their signature coaster is down for such an extended amount of time just to have the lift hill chain replaced. I don't know much about replacing chain lifts, but to me this issue is one more indication that Six Flags just does not "get it".

El Toro's been down for a long time too. Sometimes though, you have to point to the manufacturer. For X2, it's actually a defunct company (Arrow), now owned by a new company (S&S) that's not doing so hot right now. It's easy to blame the park for something like this, but it could just as easily be the fault of the manufacturer. In the case of both El Toro and I-305 at Kings Dominion, Intamin didn't have replacement lift motors here in the US, and the massive machines had to be imported from Europe. My guess is that not only is the lift chain being replaced, but also the motor and other parts, which may explain the extensive downtime. They may also be taking the time to perform routine extended maintenance to ensure consistant operation in 2014.

What did you think about spending an additional day at Disneyland with Big Thunder Mountain down? That's a pretty big marquee attraction that's been down for over a year, and may not be up again until early 2014.

In both cases, at least the parks notified guests in advance that those "big" attractions would be down. X2 was obviously important to your trip to SFMM, so you chose to skip the park. Perhaps BTMRR is important to someone else, causing them to choose a day at SFMM instead of Disneyland.

My point is, it sucks when you start planning a big trip and find out a few weeks before you leave that a ride you've been looking forward to experiencing for years is not going to be running while you're there. It took me 4 years to get onto Rip Ride Rocket because I missed the grand opening by 1 week, and it was down for major rehab my second try 2 years later. It also took me 3 days to get on Dragster in it's opening season, and that was on a trip I deliberately planned in July, when I thought it was a sure thing the record breaking coaster would be operating without glitches.

It's the nature of the business, and people planning trips around specific rides should be prepared to alter their plans or just enjoy the rest of what the parks have to offer. I'm hoping all of the new big Central Florida attractions (Falcon's Fury, Diagon Alley, and Seven Dwarves Mine Train) will all be open next October, but I know that there's a chance one or all of them may not be running next fall. There are dozens of other rides at all of these parks to experience, and while I would be sad if I could not get on all of those next year, I know we'll stil have a great time.

I agree with your overall point, but disagree with your comparison. BTMR's closure was announced late last year to refurb the ride. It was then extended due to OSHA requirements (at least that is the rumor). But Disney was forthcoming and I had plenty of time to alter my plans if I so desired (but since I have ridden BTMR at DL in the past, there was no need to make a change).

In the case of X2, the downtime was unexpected and unannounced. It was rumored on Screamscape and took several emails and phone calls to Magic Mt's PR folks before anyone would admit to me that the ride would be down for the foreseeable future. In all honesty, I had to completely reschedule my plans just a few weeks before my trip, including moving my Disney dates, because of Six Flags' reluctance in spilling the beans.

Again, I agree with your point, but the comparison between Six Flags and Disney is apples and oranges (as it usually is).

Russell, first off, El Toro is open. Your verb tense makes it sound like it's not. It re-opened on August 30. I was there, and the ride was running better than it has all season.

The following week, I attended the ACE Riding Of The Bull event. Our tour of El Toro, Kingda Ka, and Rolling Thunder was led by GA's ride operator training manager. He and I talked about Toro's issue. Toro did not receive a new motor. The kaput one was sent to MD and repaired. That was the way I had heard it went down, and our tour leader confirmed that. I had also understood that if it could NOT be repaired, the ride would not have re-opened this season. This was confirmed by the manager as well.

Let's be honest here. While a Disneyland visit without an operating BTMR is a bit of a downer, there are plenty of other (and bigger) headliner attractions. Meanwhile, a visit to Magic Mountain without X2 running would be a serious detriment and would ruin anyone's day. Like James, I was planning to visit as part of my Dec. trip for the first time to both parks, but why bother? Looks like it's just Disney this time. :(

I agree that their maintenance crew for SFMM (idk about other parks) Isnt the best. While we were in line for Tatsu it broke down twice, the first time we went in the quee area so we didnt know what happened but the second time we were there (2 rides away) A Womans harness wasnt releasing after her ride. They had to call a mantenince crew member down wich took way longer than it should have (20 minutes) Then it took here another 25 minutes to take the whole seat apart. Finally we thought we would be able to ride but wait theres more the maintenence lady lost one of the washers that gos on the seAT :| hOW DO YOU LOSE THAT?! She then went and got another one (20 minutes later) Then finally we were able to ride. So i would agree with that. I was really bummed to hear that X2 would be down because i have been wnting to go on it since it was just X So i was really bummed, but you gotta cut them some slack the Coaster is a rare one and its company is defunct and with something that big and that having been the first of its kind it bound to have probeloms but hey it just makes another reason to go back next year. (sorry for all the typos im trying to type fast)

Yeah, your experience with Rip Ride Rockit is how I felt when I got to West Coast Bash this year to find X2 closed! I hope it's open next time you go, it's incredible, but still mot as incredible as X2!